American Analog Set and Seely: Space Cases

If there's such a thing as filling a room with space, then it would be fair to say that, at their show a week ago Thursday, the American Analog Set opened the cramped quarters of T.T. the Bear's Place into an expanse of shimmering vistas and cresting planes. Yet despite immersing themselves in the languorous drones of their incandescent second album, From Our Living Room to Yours (Emperor Jones), the Texas-based quartet managed to capture the spirit of the new disc's title. Even at its most climactic, AAS's pulsing Farfisa-guitar-percussion approach sounded as intimate as a heartbeat, as if the band just happened to be playing some new stuff for a hundred or so friends they'd invited over for dinner. This was space-age pop of quiet, evocative intensity, psychedelic in the manner of Spiritualized or Stereolab, not to mention the Velvet Underground.

Opening with the cymbal-brushed splendor of its first-ever single, "Diana Slowburner II," the group crush-grooved into the extended, eight-minute gallop of "On My Way" before downshifting into the pensive dream pop of "Blue Chaise" -- a number that featured little more than Lisa Roschmann's synth notes slowly orbiting like asteroids. Although AAS operated as a loosely knit, synchronized collective, it was Roschmann's alternately buoyant and dirge-like keyboards that gave these songs their distinctive edge -- an accomplishment revealed as all the more impressive after the show, when she emerged from behind her banks of synthesizers and Farfisa with a large cast wrapped around her left hand and forearm. "I broke it playing soccer with some friends two weeks before we went on tour," she explained cheerfully.

The band opted to perform without the tape-loop technology that usually figures in their set -- "too much of an undertaking for an hour show," remarked the bespectacled Kenny, who looked a bit like a gangly kid who's just won the class spelling bee. Singing his boyish, lighthearted di-di-di-dos during "Don't Wake Me," Kenny illustrated what AAS are ultimately about: savoring sounds and syllables for their own sake. To this band, even the hum of an amplifier and the static from a speaker are sounds to be treasured.

One of the evening's three opening acts, Seely (who began a joint tour with AAS two weeks ago) played a sinewy brand of indie art rock that came across as far more taciturn and challenging than the group's new album, Seconds (Too Pure), would suggest. Although the band concentrated on material from Seconds, it sounded as if Seely were composing from scratch. "Adios" and "Love Letters" were rippling, rough-hewn explorations of texture and dissonance. Seely utilized the conventional guitars/bass/drums format much in the way a modern jazz combo -- or the '70s krautrock outfit Can -- might, with each player introducing an idea, elaborating on it, then retreating for the next player's take on the subject. Drummer Eric Taylor provided the only constant source of motion. His vigorous polyrhythms propelled the material forward, even if at times, he threatened to overtake it.

-- Jonathan Perry